Syrian strikes on Aleppo kill dozens

SYRIA

Associated Press

Updated 11:00 pm, Saturday, September 8, 2012

Photo: Manu Brabo, Associated Press

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In this Friday, Sept 7, 2012 photo, Free Syrian Army fighters run after attacking a Syrian Army tank during fighting in the Izaa district in Aleppo, Syria. On Friday, U.S. Senators John McCain, Joe Lieberman and Lindsay Graham, who have toured the volatile Middle East in recent days, urged Washington to help arm Syria's rebels with weapons and create a safe zone inside the country for a transition government. (AP Photo/ Manu Brabo) less

In this Friday, Sept 7, 2012 photo, Free Syrian Army fighters run after attacking a Syrian Army tank during fighting in the Izaa district in Aleppo, Syria. On Friday, U.S. Senators John McCain, Joe Lieberman ... more

Photo: Manu Brabo, Associated Press

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FSA soldier helps a severely wounded collague after being shot by a Syrian Army sniper in Izaa district in Aleppo, Syria, Saturday, Sept 8, 2012. On Friday, U.S. Senators John McCain, Joe Lieberman and Lindsay Graham, who have toured the volatile Middle East in recent days, urged Washington to help arm Syria's rebels with weapons and create a safe zone inside the country for a transition government. (AP Photo/ Manu Brabo) less

FSA soldier helps a severely wounded collague after being shot by a Syrian Army sniper in Izaa district in Aleppo, Syria, Saturday, Sept 8, 2012. On Friday, U.S. Senators John McCain, Joe Lieberman and Lindsay ... more

Photo: Manu Brabo, Associated Press

Syrian strikes on Aleppo kill dozens

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Beirut --

The Syrian government pounded Aleppo with warplanes and artillery shelling Saturday as ground forces seeking to regain momentum in the country's largest city advanced on several neighborhoods, activists said.

The new fighting came as Russia rejected U.S. calls for increased pressure on Syrian President Bashar Assad to relinquish power, citing harm to its commercial interests.

Shelling and air raids against the eastern Helwaniyeh neighborhood caused a large number of casualties, according to the Britain's Syrian Observatory for Human Rights and another activist group called the Local Coordination Committees. Amateur videos showed wounded people bleeding on the floor of a crowded makeshift hospital as they received treatment.

The LCC said 148 people were killed nationwide, including 77 in Aleppo. Thirty of those were killed in Helwaniyeh, it said. Activist accounts and videos cannot be independently confirmed because the government has strictly limited independent reporting in the country.

The Observatory also said government forces advanced in the Aleppo neighborhoods of Salaheddine, Seif el-Dawleh and Izaa after rebels withdrew from the areas under heavy shelling.

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Aleppo - which had been relatively quiet for most of the 18-month-old revolt - has emerged as the main battleground in Syria's civil war, with both sides largely locked in a stalemate despite the superior firepower of Assad's government.

Earlier Saturday, a major water pipeline in Aleppo was damaged during the intense fighting leaving several neighborhoods in the city without drinking water.

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